the purpose of my simplistic $ was to emphasize that without full info, it is
impossible to judge this move
you may be correct but, on the face of it, the cost seems unlikely to be
significant; if this is wrong, it should be so stated with details
I have found that once a decision is made, disclosure is almost always better
whether it is this or downsizing or mergers or whatever and that failure to
disclose details is usually to hide what the principals do not want known and
usually for not very "noble" reasons (ie for their benefit and no one else's)
the reference to "accountants" refers to the situation of a culture that
focuses on controlling cost versus providing value
your answer and the one referring to the virtues of combining hold merit
but that these and the 3rd or 4th answers does not engender great trust
al
Note that Craig does not speak for Microsoft, nor do I, nor does anyone
else who will actually answer you here. Microsoft is closed on this
issue. The decision is made. Reasons are moot.
Some of us remember how we got here. About 10 years ago, Microsoft had
viable and active communities on Compuserve. Someone at Microsoft
decided that "the internet" was a better place to be so all Compuserve
forums were abandoned and we were told to move to usenet instead.
Never mind the fact that MS did not at that time have any viable
software that could actually *use* usenet. Go there anyway. A good
percentage of the Fox community told MSFT where to shove it and moved
to web-based forums such as Foxite or UT, no-doubt angering the
collective by refusing assimilation.
Now, 10 years later, MSFT is *still* trying to hammer community into a
form that it can control. The accountants do come into play, but
control is the primary driver. If they cannot control it they cannot
measure it, and if they cannot measure it they cannot justify funding
(ANY FUNDING) for it.
But whatever the reason ..... fool me once, shame on you. Fool me
twice, shame on me. I'm hesitant to rely on anything provided by
Microsoft. They've proven themselves inept and clueless time and time
again, and they're far too willing to throw out the baby with the bath
water.
Dan